Leon Turnbull Photography

Happy birthday to me! I ventured out on my birthday to try to find a new waterfall and I found one! I must say that made for a great day. What better way to spend your birthday than scrambling through brush and poison oak, down steep mountainsides, and ending up at a fabulous hidden waterfall!

I definitely was surprised though, that I found anything at all. I was not sure if there was even a waterfall on Tiger Creek.  Well, I knew there was one somewhere, but I did not know exactly where. And I thought it would be just a small one in the 20 ft. range, if there was one at all. The biggest thing though, was that on Google Earth the terrain looked very brushy and steep. I did not think I would even get down to Tiger Creek at all. As it turned out though, it was not really too steep or too brushy. Certainly I have done much worse in my days. I made it down to the creek where I thought the waterfall might be without too much difficulty. But there was no waterfall there. Just a very small little drop, maybe 10 ft. or so in height. That was not what I was hoping for. Maybe there was not any waterfall on Tiger Creek at all. Well, I thought, it might be upstream. I had marked a secondary location possibility on my GPS,  about a half mile up the creek, so I headed up in that direction. And when I got there, I found a very nice little 20 ft. falls. It made me very happy that I had found a decent waterfall on this creek. I had to photograph it from the other side of the creek, so I put on my water shoes and went across. It was EXTREMELY COLD. While photographing the waterfall on the other side, I saw that there was an upper (and larger) waterfall above it. This made me even happier! I took my photos, went back across, tried to warm my numb feet, put on my hiking boots, then went on to this upper falls. It was really a beauty, a 2 tier drop totaling 43 ft. in height. It would have been perfect if it were not for a large tree that was blocking the view. The only way, again, to photograph it would be from the other side of the creek, but this time, it was not possible to get across. It was flowing too fast up here and too deep. With a little less flow, it could have been crossed quite easily I think. But I didn’t really want to fall and go over that 20 footer below. So I tried to photograph it as best I could from this side. The photo pictured here is the middle tier (the upper tier is immediately above and out of the picture). I will definitely be returning to this one someday.

http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=599

I have been to the Columbia River Gorge many times over the years, but I never made it up to Upper Latourell Falls. There are just SO many great waterfalls to see in the Gorge, and time is usually very limited. It is impossible to see them all in one trip, and decisions have to be made. Upper Latourell Falls was always the one that was cut out. Not this time.

But actually, Upper Latourell Falls was not on my list “again” this year. I was not planning to go here. Again, too little time and too many waterfalls to see. On my last morning here, I had plans to see some different waterfalls. But this time, circumstances changed and I updated my plan. Mostly it was because I was too tired, and the ones I had initially planned to see would be tough ones, so instead, I decided to go to a couple closer and somewhat easier waterfalls (namely, Triple Falls and Oneonta Falls, and then Upper Latourell Falls).

Upper Latourell was the last one I saw on this trip. It is a nice one, dropping 122 ft., but is not particularly easy to photograph the entire waterfall. This is the lower section, and it looks quite like Oneonta Falls, which I had just visited an hour earlier. You can also get up in behind this waterfall as well. I finished the hike about noon, and fortunately it was overcast so I had good lighting. Then after lunch, I made the long drive back to California. It so happened that it was a Saturday, and both the Beavers and Ducks had home games this day. I-5 was totally clogged up with traffic, by fans from these teams driving down from Portland to see their teams. All the cars on the freeway had their Beavers or Ducks flags waving from their cars. It was crazy. And it did not make me happy, trying to make decent time back to California. Well, it took awhile, but I finally got by them all and made it back to California. Geesh.

http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=1571

The other day I made a quick trip over to Panther Creek Falls, near Pine Grove.  I discovered this waterfall last year, and although it is out in the middle of nowhere, it is also right beside the road, so it is not difficult to see.  But it is very difficult to get down to. The descent is very steep, and there is no trail, and there is a lot of poison oak. Buggers. The view from the creek level is partially obscured by tree branches as you can see. Due to the very steep terrain, I could not get in any better position to take a photo. Still, it is definitely worth the trip and making the descent to the creek.

I was also surprised to see the creek flowing so high. I was expecting the flow to be a lot less. It seems that the high flow is due to melting snow, as we have not had much precipitation in recent weeks. After a lot of rain in Nov/Dec, January has been very dry so far. Come on, let’s have some more rain please!

http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=595

This past weekend I went back to Table Mountain in Oroville once more, this time to visit Beatson Falls. My goal was to be there at sunrise, and that meant I had to start hiking in the dark. It is interesting hiking cross country on Table Mountain in the dark. There are no trails to follow. The major concern is avoiding the cow dung, easy enough to do in the daylight (if you are paying attention), but definitely a challenge to do in the dark. With my headlamp though, I think I managed to avoid all the large brown obstacles. I was hoping I would not run into any groups of killer cows in the dark but that was not to be. I came across a couple such groups, but fortunately they scattered as I approached. The one other concern in the dark is getting lost. It is hard enough to find your way in the daylight. But with my GPS in hand, I did not really have any problems. The one big problem on the way to Beatson Falls is a ravine that you need to cross. It was a bit tricky in the dark, but I managed.

I arrived at Beatson Falls just a few minutes before sunrise. But I really needed to be there about 15 minutes earlier. The light from the rising sun made for an incredibly difficult exposure. Together with the wind blowing my tripod and the long distance from my view point to the falls, it was definitely a challenge. So, I am not completely happy with this photo, but it was the best of the shots that I took.

I did not visit any of the other waterfalls in the vicinity of Beatson Falls. I knew that they would be just trickling, since we have not had any recent rains. Plus, the sun was fully out, so I wouldn’t get any decent shots anyway. Nonetheless, I did have a very pleasant morning outing in Oroville.

On Tuesday I ventured down the One Eye Creek trail to Rock Creek Falls. I have been to this waterfall before (when Rock Creek was in full flood stage), but I figured it was time for a return trip. Nothing fancy or new, just a nice hike to a nice waterfall. It is actually one of the best waterfalls in the greater Sacramento area. In terms of height, it is only a mere 17 ft. high. But in terms of width, it is about 100 ft. wide, and the creek just thunders off a rock ledge spanning the width of the entire creek (and in the winter, Rock Creek flows much more like a river than a creek).  It is certainly a spectacular waterfall.

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The bad news though first … the ticks are out already. I saw a few of them on my hike down to the creek, little ones just hanging off the grasses along the trail waiting for unsuspecting hikers. It is not good that they are prowling about in January already. I suspect it is going to be another very bad season for ticks this year, perhaps even worse than last year (and they were really bad last year). I hate these little buggers. I can handle the poison oak. But I cannot handle ticks. They totally horrify me (remember my hike down into Canyon Creek last year when I had about 50 of them attach themselves to me within a couple miles of hiking).

Anyway, other than seeing a few ticks (and a lot of poison oak), my hike was wonderful. Rock Creek was not in flood stage this year, but it was flowing quite strongly. I worked my way down to the base of the falls, and found it much easier to photograph when you are not being drenched with mist.

After shooting Rock Creek Falls, I continued on the trail downstream. Yes, there is a trail downstream. Although it is completely overgrown and abounding with poison oak, it is possible to follow it. I think it may go down to One Eye Creek (it is called the One Eye Creek trail, after all). I was hoping to get all the way to One Eye, but the trail comes to a crossing of Rock Creek, and I found it flowing just a little too strong and deep to cross. I probably could have done it, but decided to play it safe and not do it this time. I am not sure if the trail did continue on the other side, but I think another day I will be back there to see if I can get down to One Eye Creek.

http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=515